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Join Date

Jun 2013

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1,645

Who will be our wr coach? Richard mann or hines ward

Could we talk Mann into returning after retiring and have him return to us? IDK but it could be an option to consider. This guy was special , knows our system and would be a blessing to get him back even just for 19.
Other guy who could be in the mix is Ward. Summer of 17 he spent a bunch of time with JuJu in camp at Latrobe as a interim coach and obviously knows the game inside n out. I believe this summer he's still doing the camp thing but with the Jets.

Two good options n I'm sure there are more. Just wondering what the group thinks on this. Thought Drake was excellent n he'll be missed. We got some big shoes to fill with a talented but rather young wr group.

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Join Date

Apr 2017

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7,710

I trust Colbert will find the right guy.

From the 2010-2018 season, (An 8 year period that the majority of Cowher's players & coaches had left) Mike Tomlin has only won 3 playoff games. And two of those wins were against back up Quarterbacks. Our history has been defined by what we do in the postseason; not the regular season.

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May 2008

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on the "Ignore" list

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33,022

I'd say try to bring them both back. If Mann is interested in coming out of retirement for one season only, he would be a great fit, since he's worked in this offense for 5 years recently and was greatly respected.

He may not be...he's 72 years old now...unless he got antsy during that first year of retirement...who knows...Bruce Arians tried to retire last year, but it didn't really agree with him, so now he's back coaching again after a year off.

Then maybe bring in Hines to be an assistant WR coach under Mann for this year, essentially on a trial basis to see if he might work as our full time WR coach in 2020 after Mann re-retires.

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For the record, besides all of our coordinators and established position coaches, we currently have 3 coaching assistants on the staff (Denzel Martin, Blaine Stewart, and Matt Symmes).

I'm not sure of their backgrounds or if any of those 3 work more on the passing game than the run game or defense, so I don't know who would be the leader in the clubhouse if the team just decided to promote a promising young coach from within the ranks at the present time.

Plus, we also have a couple of former players in camp as coaching interns (CB William Gay and TE David Johnson).

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Join Date

May 2008

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7,427

Originally Posted by RuthlessBurgher

I'd say try to bring them both back. If Mann is interested in coming out of retirement for one season only, he would be a great fit, since he's worked in this offense for 5 years recently and was greatly respected.

He may not be...he's 72 years old now...unless he got antsy during that first year of retirement...who knows...Bruce Arians tried to retire last year, but it didn't really agree with him, so now he's back coaching again after a year off.

Then maybe bring in Hines to be an assistant WR coach under Mann for this year, essentially on a trial basis to see if he might work as our full time WR coach in 2020 after Mann re-retires.

If you could get Mann to essentially work as a consultant while grooming Ward, yeah, that type of situation would be ideal. Even if not Ward, per se, but any younger coach. If I was Mann, though, I'm not sure I'd unretired and take time away from my family after seeing Coach Drake pass away at such an early age.

The Mike McCarthy suggestion below is interesting. Not sure if he would step back that much, but having an experienced name involved in the game planning would help. Munchak is going. The Steelers have a new RB coach. James Daniel is the only assistant returning on the offensive side. Another coach with game planning experience would help Fichtner, who is seemingly going to be shouldering a lot more responsibility this year.

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May 2008

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Hawaii 5-0

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19,002

Steeler Dan: First of all, condolences go out to the Drake family and the Steelers on the death of Darryl Drake. He touched so many lives in a very positive way. I know it may be too early for this question, but will the Steelers hire a replacement or will someone in house take over coaching the WRs?

Ray Fittipaldo: They will hire someone to replace him. The Steelers are mourning Darryl's loss, but they will be back at practice Tuesday. They'll find a way to move on without him. The Steelers have a few options. Hines Ward spent a lot of time with the Steelers during the 2017 season. He was a training camp intern and also visited practices throughout that season. Some believed Hines might get the job after Richard Mann retired, but Mike Tomlin hired Drake instead. Hines is now a camp intern with the Jets. Ray Sherman has been at camp this summer with the Steelers. He was the OC here in 1998. He was a receivers coach in the league from 2000 until 2015. He is 67. The young assistants are Blaine Stewart and Matt Symmes. Will Gay, who played for the Steelers from 2007-11 and again from 2013-17, is a camp intern this summer and has been working with the receivers.

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May 2008

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4,851

I think that the most stable route is talking Mann into a return with a student in tow. Be it Hines or somebody else, keeping a firm hand on the till in this time of sadness while grooming the coach of the future would be the ideal way to go.

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Actually, I was surprised to learn this week that Drake recruited and coached Ward at GA. Seems that would make for some good potential continuity.

And if we're going to consider random former players like Big Play Willie Gay, why not throw some others in the mix like Stallworth, Charlie Batch, Polamalu, Keisel, Weegie Thompson, Louis Lipps, or Kordell?

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Actually, I was surprised to learn this week that Drake recruited and coached Ward at GA. Seems that would make for some good potential continuity.

And if we're going to consider random former players like Big Play Willie Gay, why not throw some others in the mix like Stallworth, Charlie Batch, Polamalu, Keisel, Weegie Thompson, Louis Lipps, or Kordell?